Hope Springs Institute: A Place you Deserve to Visit

Spring is on its way. I’m not kidding it really is. Many of us have experienced the worst winter weather in decades and I choose to turn my thoughts to spring. This leads me to tell you about one of the most peaceful and rejuvenating places that I know of – Hope Springs.

Hope Springs is a retreat center in Ohio's Southern Appalachian foothills. People from all over the world come here to attend mindful, creative, and healthy group retreats. Hope Springs also sponsors profoundly transformational workshops on topics which include women's issues, empowered leadership, and personal growth. I’ve been to Hope Springs a few times especially when family caregiving and eldercare responsibilities were getting the best of me. After a weekend at Hope Springs, I returned home refreshed and renewed.

One of my favorite retreats is called Proprioceptive Writing which is the practice of meditative writing. If you keep a journal or want to start the process of writing down your thoughts, this is the workshop for you. It is led by the wonderful Mary Bok who is a farmer, writer, and teacher from Camden, Maine.

Here is how the website describes the fundamentals of Proprioceptive Writing:

Exercise your capacity to listen to yourself and others, in a way that may be new to you.

Complete five Proprioceptive writes, in the company of a small group of others.

Bring up rich material, which might later lead the way to poems, stories, communications to family and friends, or perhaps deeper journal experience.

Begin your Proprioceptive Writing practice, and be ready to continue on your own.

If you feel worn out and are looking for a place to be peaceful and nurtured, think about visiting Hope Springs. This is NOT a spa. This is heaven on earth. Tell Cynthia I sent you.